I love this prayer:
“Dear Lord, so far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen”
I identify with that. However, I need more than help to get through the day, I need Christ to become my life.
Christ was Paul’s life. He wrote; “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” Philippians 3:7-8.
Thirty years before he penned those words, Paul had been the ringleader of the self-righteous…the enemies of Jesus. But the Lord graciously saved him and from that moment he refused to take his eyes off the Saviour. From that instant, he lived his life 'Looking unto Jesus.' For Paul, Jesus was enough! He saw in Him enough to make him turn his back on earthly glory. His life became a pursuit of Christ. He had discovered a new focus and purpose. Christ Jesus was enough for Him. Christ had become his life.
What about us? Is Christ our focus? Are we satisfied with Him? Is there a passion within us to know Him? Do we know what it is to win Christ?
To win Christ means to gain out of Christ the riches that are in Him. We have a vast inheritance in Jesus. He is a mine of treasure with more riches and resources than we can imagine. Yet many of us stand outside this treasure store yearning for everything else other than the inexhaustible riches of Christ.
But, Paul says, 'I want to win Christ,' In other words, I want to possess all that I can possess of Christ. I want all of Him. Paul doesn’t even say, 'my goal is to win souls?' Reaching lost people with the gospel is crucial, but evangelism flows from the practice of winning Christ.
Is Jesus precious to you? No one like Him has ever walked onto the stage of History. He is the God- man. He is humanity married to Divinity. What a mystery, the person of Christ, God, yet man! Everything He has done has been credited to our accounts. What a wealth of accomplishments we have to present to the Father. We are clothed with the obedience and righteousness of the God-man. We have all His goodness and faithfulness plus His doing and dying credited to us. We are complete in Him.
Look now at His suffering – Look at Him hanging between Heaven and Earth like a disinherited Son. See Him exhausting the wrath of the Holy God whom we had outraged by our sins. He was made a curse that the blessing might come upon us.' (Galatians 3:13-14.) Is He enough?
Look at Him now, He is our mediator. We belong to Him, He represents us as He appears in the presence of the Father. He has rescued, redeemed and reconciled us. There is no way, therefore, that He will release us. We are safe at last. All that is in Him belongs to us.
Look at Him again, He is coming back in Glory. Your Saviour is the King of the Universe before whom all shall bow. He’s coming back for His purchased possession. That’s you! Did you think He would forget you? He’s coming back and you are in His heart. He loves you, He’s crazy about you. As Paul says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory” Colossians 3:4.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!